Christine Quinn Does the Restaurant Industry a Solid by Overhauling the Grading System

Are those big blue A's in windowpanes across New York the first thing you look for when deciding where to eat out? Do you see a B or a C and shake your head with pity for the owner of that restaurant? Many people do, but it turns out, we've got it all wrong. Letter grading of restaurants by the Health Department can be as arbitrary as the inspector assigned to evaluate a place. That's why Christine Quinn announced during a photo op today a few legislative proposals to get the city to rein in its enforcement of the letter grades the Health Department hands out to restaurants.

In response to complaints of frivolous grading on the part of the department's inspectors, the city council is going to take up debate on legislation to reduce fines and potential violations for owners.

Though there is the potential for underregulation, don't buy stock in Immodium just yet. The new legislation is not about relaxing grading standards. They're more about increasing transparency and accountability of the inspectors handing out the grades. The city is making these new allowances because restaurant owners are often blindsided by draconian safety rules. Among the new regulations will be an opportunity for eateries and restaurants to get a cheap or free consultation--depending on the age of the restaurant--ahead of a formal, grade-bearing inspection.

One odd contradiction that an initial report of the new legislation points out: Christine Quinn just rolled out a proposal to make options on kids' menus more healthful, unleashing a wave of the hospitality industry's ire. But the contradiction resolves slightly when we think about the two needs Quinn is trying to meet with each law, consummate politician that she is.

One is ostensibly to position herself as heir apparent to Mayor "no soda for you" Bloomberg (and possibly to mend some fences after her part in overriding some of his vetoes). The other is to throw a bone to one of the city's largest industries, which been clamoring for a change like this since the grading program kicked off three years ago. Whether or not either proposal makes it past the council is uncertain, nor how the Health Department feels about being publicly chastised. But if both sets of proposal survive, that'll be one hell of a political maneuver.

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Christine Quinn has not run a meaningful organization in her life. Entrusting New York City to a woman who has worked with off balance sheet budgets, managing a 'Slush Fund' is perhaps not the ideal individual to lead a city with one of the largest budgets in the world. Does Quinn have any training in Economics 101, Accounting, Finance or any experience running a for profit enteprise? All we hear is that she is a Gay Woman striving to become Mayor of the largest city in the world. What are her qualifications? Running New York City requires far more than holding court at a Gay Pride Parade.Quinn is an unqualifed political hack.